The 1951 season

Typhoon Babs (1951)

Typhoon Babs reached Category 3 in the Western Pacific between December 10, 1951 and December 17, 1951, with a lowest pressure of 980 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Babs, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1951 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

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The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
December 10, 1951 to December 17, 1951
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Lowest pressure
980 mb (28.94 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 638 km (396 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
11.5
Identifier
WP171951

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads publishes a machine-readable casualty or damage figure for a storm of this era. The National Hurricane Center’s season tables begin in 1995 and carry deaths and damage only from 2005 in the Atlantic and 2020 in both basins; the US Storm Events record begins in 1996.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Dec 10, 00:009.0N 143.0E1006 mbMixed
Dec 10, 06:009.0N 142.0E1004 mbTropical storm
Dec 10, 12:009.0N 141.0E1004 mbTropical storm
Dec 10, 18:009.1N 139.9E1000 mbTropical storm
Dec 11, 00:009.2N 138.9E990 mbTropical storm
Dec 11, 06:009.3N 137.6E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 11, 12:0010.0N 136.4E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 11, 18:0010.6N 135.3E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 12, 00:0011.3N 134.1E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 12, 06:0012.1N 133.1E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 12, 12:0012.8N 132.2E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Dec 12, 18:0013.3N 131.7E65 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 00:0013.8N 131.4E70 kt985 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 06:0014.4N 131.0E75 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 12:0015.1N 130.7E75 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 13, 18:0016.1N 130.8E75 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 00:0017.0N 131.4E75 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 06:0017.8N 132.2E75 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 12:0018.1N 133.7E80 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 14, 18:0018.3N 135.0E90 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 15, 00:0018.8N 135.9E100 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 15, 06:0019.8N 139.2E100 kt980 mbTropical storm
Dec 15, 12:0021.2N 145.3E90 kt980 mbMixed
Dec 15, 18:0024.8N 150.8E80 kt986 mbMixed
Dec 16, 00:0029.0N 156.0E70 kt990 mbMixed
Dec 16, 06:0032.2N 160.0E60 kt990 mbMixed
Dec 16, 12:0035.1N 165.6E40 ktTropical storm
Dec 16, 18:0037.3N 168.5E40 ktTropical storm
Dec 17, 00:0039.6N 171.5E35 ktTropical storm
Dec 17, 06:0047.5N 174.0E30 ktTropical storm

Other Western Pacific storms of 1951

What this means

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Sources

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.